Instruments of Choice

Musicians tend to have extremely personal relationships with their favorite instrument. A guitar worth forty dollars may be priceless to someone who has spent years learning its particular vagaries, touch, and sonic personality. Players strive to become one with their instrument so that whatever they hear can be played – hopefully the instrument becomes an extension of their musical id and their soul. Because of this, the bond between instrument and instrumentalist is often complex and deep.

Musicians often like to be photographed playing their instruments, this being the normal form of interaction between the two. My intention with this book is to do something a little different. Having the subject posing with the instrument instead of actively playing it brings out a different side of the relationship between the two and shows them as separate and distinct entities, each with an independent personality. Hopefully, these images show the empathy and love that players have for their intensely valued yet nonetheless inanimate instruments of choice.